1. What makes you qualified to be a Trustee?
- I am a teacher, curriculum developer, politician, and AI professional
- My late father was a teacher at Don Mills Collegiate, devoted to reforming the system
- I have devoted my own life to education, learning, and education reform
- I am an experienced politician, serving two terms as student president of Cognitive Science & Artificial Intelligence at UofT, and running four times for public office since — I was the median candidate in my first run here, for City Councillor of University–Rosedale — this time, running for school board takes me closer to my core competency: education in all its forms.
- I teach in both public and private schools, in secular and religious schools, in English and French schools, individually and to groups, to multiple faiths, and I teach both science and the arts (coding & piano)
- I am a gifted student who attended our nation’s finest school for ten years — I will return later for my PhD in Philosophy, or perhaps first my Master’s in Computer Science, which will keep me tied to this riding for eternity
- As a philosopher and opinion writer I am engaged in more online dialogue with the citizens of Toronto than anyone else online, publishing almost daily on substack about the latest local controversy or policy issue — literally no living politician has made themselves more available online via social media — this has been the case for 20 years since I began my rise to my association’s presidency at UofT [cogsci.ca]
- I constantly research politics and current opinion, documented in real-time as I share literally everything I consume, in a public research log for ultimate transparency — my influences will never be back-room meetings where money changes hands, but the same public opinion I consume every day and post online — if you are in the media, I will hear you, if you comment on what I share, I will hear you
- I have voted for all four major parties, founded another, and also worked with the former Pirate Party of Canada, having the most diverse and non-ideological experience of any candidate available — anyone else you can vote for is a partisan who will not listen to voters who differ from them ideologically
- I have recently become a Green Party member, where I find the greatest flexibility, and formerly held roles working for Jagmeet Singh and Andrea Horvath
- I am equally qualified to bridge interfaith divides, with family of many faiths, and further experience mentioned in “What I Told Toronto Faiths”
- I am an unsettlingly fluent writer who answers every email
- I am utterly uncorruptible and blew the whistle on the ABA scandal at the NDP, putting the safety of children ahead of my political career.
2. What is your connection to this riding?
- I was born at Mt Sinai Hospital to a TDSB Teacher, Andre Robert Golding, who taught at Don Mills Collegiate, before his untimely death from mesothelioma one year after my birth — I would later run in the Don Valley West by-election near this school
- Raised in Barrie, I returned to my birth riding for University and have lived in University–Rosedale now for 24 years, first in The Annex and then in Kensington Market, where I am a well-known local figure and have run for office three times as an independent, co-founding activist groups such as TorCH: The Toronto Coalition for Housing, and The Municipal Socialist Alliance
- My ten years at UofT most likely merely prefigure a much longer stay in academia here in the neighbourhood
- I also frequent Toronto St–Paul’s, where I hope to start a family
3. What do you see as the most important role of a school trustee?
- To vote on policy on the basis of continuous good-faith conversation with the public, especially with the poor
4. What issues do you think need to be addressed most urgently?
- Hate in schools
- Coding in schools
- Privatisation of schools (We must stop Ford’s take-over, and this is why you must not vote for Tasha — I have signed Trustee Rizzo’s pledge to work together with The Catholic Board to keep public schools public:
5. If elected, how much time are you prepared to dedicate to this position? How do you anticipate spending this time?
I devote all my time to learning, politics, the truth, justice, and the arts, and this role will not change that but merely enable me to make more of a difference. I anticipate spending this time making sure that our votes are correct, and that elected representatives ultimately give the people more power over their future by giving them more power over their education, as opposed to merely ceding that power to corporate control, the likes of which Ford seeks to impose with his constant regime of privatizing everything.
6. Is there anything else that electors should know about you before election day?
Readers should search their favourite political topics on my blog at adamgolding,substack.com and message me especially if they disagree — I may be able to immediately clarify my admittedly sensationalist writing, which always has a carefully reasoned argument behind it (I am a formal logic tutor and analytic philosopher…) and a position grounded in human rights absolutism. Some of my writing is designed to expose hasty readers who don’t do their homework and click the links…I am all about everyone doing their homework, especially on the political topics of our time that affect everyone.
I would also ask readers to look up my Uncle Neil, a retired OPP officer who recently passed, who was one of the early authority figures in my life, after my father passed who had resolved to reform education in Ontario.